Connells/ Skipton down valuation..again

Louis77

We are first time buyers and first 2 properties fell through (first one sellers pulled out, second one we pulled out as sellers couldn’t find a property to buy months after accepting our offer so things weren’t moving at all). We are now trying to buy property number 3 with a mortgage through Skipton; we had mortgage offers from them on the first 2 properties as well.  It’s a 4 bedroom detached house on a corner plot in a lovely village. The property had tenants until the end of October so empty and chain free which is perfect for us as we are ready to move. The seller accepted our offer which was £5K below asking price as he also didn’t want to be part of a chain. The surveyor from Connells went in last week and valued the property at £255K. We offered £280K. We’re speechless and so are our broker, estate agents and the seller. The cheapest comparable property in that area sold for £305K recently, some up to £340K. Apparently the valuer said that the property needs a complete refurbishment and is overpriced compared to recent sales. Firstly, the kitchen is around 5 years old. Yes the bathroom and downstairs cloakroom are dated but they are in good, clean condition. Underfloor heating in kitchen and converted garage and the rest neutral decorated. Updating the bathrooms won’t even be priority for us as they work just fine. Our broker has sent an appeal form to Skipton as we and the estate agents could list over 10 comparable properties, all that sold for a lot more than £280K. You can’t even get a 3 bed semi detached in this area for £255K so we really don’t understand how the valuer can say it’s in line with completed sales in the area as it really isn’t. I’ve read that appeals are rarely successful; no one likes to be told they were wrong and apparently surveyors don’t like to challenge each other. If they decline our appeal even with the overwhelming evidence, could we ask Skipton to send out a different surveyor at our cost? This is the second property that Connells down valued but this time it is shockingly incorrect. Skipton has been brilliant in terms of customer service, just a shame that they use (and own) Connells!

All our searches are back, our solicitors are only waiting on the mortgage offer to be able to agree an exchange date which won’t happen if we can’t get the valuation overturned. The seller will never accept £255K (and I wouldn’t either if it was me) and we are not in the position to add more cash to make up any difference as already buying with a 95% mortgage. We’ve decided this will be our last try and will go back into a long term rental if this one doesn’t work out as it has caused us a tremendous amount of stress over the past 7 months. 

K_S

@louis77 I hope the appeal succeeds but your broker has probably already told you that the second-best option would be to try one last time with a new lender that uses a different surveyor panel. Other than Halifax, most mainstream lenders are offering free vals on purchase mortgages so there shouldn't be any cost involved.

Hopefully it all works out in the end, good luck!

Louis77

K_S said:

@louis77 I hope the appeal succeeds but your broker has probably already told you that the second-best option would be to try one last time with a new lender that uses a different surveyor panel. Other than Halifax, most mainstream lenders are offering free vals on purchase mortgages so there shouldn't be any cost involved.

Hopefully it all works out in the end, good luck!

Thank you! It’s been a nightmare, we moved 200 miles across the country with 2 kids (one is disabled) to find out sellers pulled out a week before exchange. That was the first property, down valued by £30K by Connells but we renegotiated. In the end the sellers had a change in circumstances and couldn’t afford their ongoing purchase anymore accepting our much lower offer. We ended up homeless in a chalet in a caravan park for  10 days with all of our furniture in storage. Thankfully we found someone who was willing to rent his second home to us for the time being. It is a tiny terraced house, our furniture still in storage 5 months on and our kids have to share a room with one sleeping on the floor as we can’t see his bed in the storage container as it’s packed to the roof. We’ve managed to get our youngest in a brilliant special needs school which was our main motivation when we decided to move areas. But we can’t live like this much longer, it’s not fair on our children to live this way hence this being our last shot. Even if we end up losing the house and going back to a long term let, we would still like to challenge the surveyor as that would have costed us the chance to buy and it really is out of touch with the local market and the agreed price was already low compared to similar properties. Buying a house is definitely not for the faint of heart!